The present invention is directed, in general, to wireless communication systems and, more specifically, to a system and method for selectively disabling the transmission of information concerning the location of a wireless mobile station.
Reliable predictions indicate that there will be over three hundred million (300,000,000) cellular telephone customers worldwide by the year 2000. Within the United States, cellular service is offered by cellular service providers, by the regional Bell companies, and by the national long distance operators. The enhanced competition has driven the price of cellular service down to the point where it is affordable to a large segment of the population.
The current generation of cellular phones is used primarily for voice conversations between a party using a subscriber handset (a wireless mobile station) and another party using the same type of subscriber handset. The voice conversations take place through the wireless network. A smaller number of wireless mobile stations are data devices, such as personal computers (PCs) equipped with cellular/wireless modems. Because the bandwidth for a current generation wireless mobile station is typically limited to a few tens of kilobits per second (Kbps), the applications for the current generation of wireless mobile stations are relatively limited.
However, this is expected to change in the next (or third) generation of cellular/wireless technology, sometimes referred to as xe2x80x9c3Gxe2x80x9d cellular/wireless, where a much greater bandwidth will be available to each wireless mobile station (e.g., 125 Kbps or greater). The higher data rates will make Internet applications for wireless mobile stations much more common. For instance, a 3G cell phone (or a PC with a 3G cellular modem) may be used to browse web sites on the Internet, to transmit and receive graphics, to execute streaming audio and/or video applications, and the like. In sum, a much higher percentage of the wireless traffic handled by 3G cellular systems will be Internet protocol (IP) traffic and a lesser percentage will be traditional voice traffic.
The availability of greater bandwidth is making new features available for wireless mobile stations. One of the new features that has begun to appear in wireless mobile stations is the global positioning system (GPS) unit. GPS is a well known satellite based system for determining the geographic location of a transmitter in terms of latitude and longitude. A GPS unit in a wireless mobile station is capable of receiving signals from several GPS satellites and determining the location of the wireless mobile station to within a few meters.
Information from a GPS unit concerning the location of a wireless mobile station in terms of latitude and longitude may be displayed on the display unit of the wireless mobile station. Location information from the GPS unit may be very useful to the user of the wireless mobile station. For example, if the user of the wireless mobile station were to get lost in a wilderness area, the GPS unit in the wireless mobile station could give the user his exact location. If the user were to witness an automobile crash or other similar accident in a rural area where there are no street names, the user could call for assistance and give the exact location of the accident. If the user were to be involved in an accident or emergency, the user could call an emergency number such as 911 and the GPS unit in the wireless mobile station would give the exact location of the mobile station.
The location of a wireless mobile station may also be of interest to the operator of the wireless network. If the operator of the wireless network wishes to check the signal strength that the wireless mobile stations are receiving from the base station transmitters, it would be advantageous to the operator to know the exact distance of each of the wireless mobile stations to the nearest base station transmitter. To obtain this information the operator could send a signal to each individual wireless mobile station to ask each GPS unit to transmit to the operator the exact location of the wireless mobile station in which the GPS unit is located.
A GPS unit is a specific example of a position locating system that is capable of locating a wireless mobile station. Other types of position locating systems exist that are also capable of locating a wireless mobile station.
Many users of wireless mobile stations will not want their location to be available to the operator of the wireless network (or to any other party). Many users believe that the exact location of their wireless mobile station as determined by a position locating system is private information and is not to be divulged to any party without the user""s consent. As the number of wireless mobile stations with a position locating system increases over time, there will very likely be an increase in the number of users who desire to control the disclosure of the location of their wireless mobile station.
Therefore, in a wireless mobile station of the type having a position locating system that is capable of determining the location of the wireless mobile station, there is a need for an apparatus and method for selectively disabling the transmission of information concerning the location of the wireless mobile station. Because there will be instances when the user of the wireless mobile station will want the location of the wireless mobile station to be transmitted, there is also a need for a user to have the ability to selectively transmit the location of the wireless mobile station to authorized parties. This is especially true in cases where an emergency exists and the user wants his or her location known immediately.
In situations where the wireless mobile station has been lost or stolen, there is a need for the user to have a code stored in the wireless mobile station that can be used to cause the wireless mobile station to transmit its location to the nearest base station. In such cases the user would contact the base station operator and give the user""s code to the base station operator. Then the base station operator would transmit the code to override the location privacy feature and locate the wireless mobile station. After the user had recovered the lost or stolen wireless mobile station, then the user would change the code and maintain the privacy of the location of the wireless mobile station as before.
To address the needs described above, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide, for use in a wireless mobile station of the type having a position locating system that is capable of determining the location of the wireless mobile station, an apparatus and method for selectively disabling the transmission of information concerning the location of the wireless mobile station.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide control circuitry in a wireless mobile station comprising a controller and a memory unit having a location privacy flag in which a value set in the location privacy flag determines whether information concerning the location of the wireless mobile station is to be transmitted.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a directory of authorized telephone numbers in a wireless mobile station that are authorized to receive information concerning the location of the wireless mobile station.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a directory of emergency telephone numbers in a wireless mobile station that are always automatically authorized to receive information concerning the location of the wireless mobile station.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide control circuitry in a wireless mobile station capable of causing the wireless mobile station to transmit either a null code or a null message that indicates that information concerning the location of the wireless mobile station is not being transmitted.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide control circuitry in a wireless mobile station capable of receiving a code that causes the wireless mobile station to transmit information concerning the location of the wireless mobile station.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide control circuitry in a wireless mobile station for determining that a code transmitted to and received by the wireless mobile station is the code that authorizes the transmission of information concerning the location of the wireless mobile station.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide control circuitry for recording the date and time when the location privacy feature of the present invention has been enabled and disabled.
It is also another object of the present invention to provide control circuitry for selectively transmitting a substitute location of a wireless mobile station instead of transmitting the actual location of the wireless mobile station.
It is another object of the present invention to provide for use in a wireless mobile station of the type having a position locating system capable of locating the wireless mobile station, a method for selectively disabling the transmission of information concerning the location of the wireless mobile station.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention so that those skilled in the art may better understand the detailed description of the invention that follows. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter that form the subject of the claims of the invention. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that they may readily use the conception and the specific embodiment disclosed as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. Those skilled in the art should also realize that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention in its broadest form.
Before undertaking the DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION below, it may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases used throughout this patent document: the terms xe2x80x9cincludexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9ccomprise,xe2x80x9d as well as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation; the term xe2x80x9cor,xe2x80x9d is inclusive, meaning and/or; the phrases xe2x80x9cassociated withxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cassociated therewith,xe2x80x9d as well as derivatives thereof, may mean to include, be included within, interconnect with, contain, be contained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have, have a property of, or the like; and the term xe2x80x9ccontrollerxe2x80x9d means any device, system or part thereof that controls at least one operation, such a device may be implemented in hardware, firmware or software, or some combination of at least two of the same. It should be noted that the functionality associated with any particular controller may be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely. Definitions for certain words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that in many, if not most instances, such definitions apply to prior, as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases.